After playing so many moto-racer type games in my life, I felt very dissapointed. As if I had been left hanging. I have been running freestyle for years, almost into the second decade now. I remember my first MX game, Motocross Madness. It was a very arcade-style racer, not much to show off but it was the game of it's time if you were into the whole motocross thing. It had its ups and downs, figuratively speaking. A few tricks, some very basic bike physics. The only thing I liked about it was that the sounds actually sounded like a dirtbike, unlike many others I had tried at the time.

Just recently, I tried MX vs. ATV Unleashed. I had no idea it was made by the same people who brought me Motocross Madness, but as soon as that invisible barrier slung me half way across the map, I knew it was not coincidence. This game gave me exactly what Motocross brought, only difference is you get to be bored in a few other types of vehicles as well. Not to mention that there are aircraft involved. What is that about? Unleashed was fun for about 30 minutes, then it got boring because I had already done all 10 (small exageration) of their tricks multiple times and won every race without a bead of sweat. This was another ebay-borne game that I felt let down on.

Then came Mototrax. At first I didn't realyl expect a lot. The screenshots here at Gamespot do not represent the real thing, far from it. The game itself actually looks far better than the screenshots here. I also feel bad saying that Gamespot has done a somewhat indecent job at reviewing this amazing game. After I realized how much better it was than those other "wannabe" MX racers, I started to take a deeper look. The first thing I noticed was that you don't simply have to tape down the trigger for some gas and navigate with the stick. You actually have to get yourself into the game. If you want to make a quick start from the line, hit the gas and hold your clutch, wait for the barriers to drop and release, you will get a good boost of power but you have to lean forward otherwise you will find yourself on your back very quickly. This for me was something amazing, it reminded me of the first time I had ever gone on my first supercross. The focus that Aspyr put into this game stunned me. At first I just thought this was "another game", not expecting anything new. Quite contrary to that, though, this has been an amazing experience. After zipping past everyone on the first turn and realizing I just crashed into a wall, I figured out that even more realism had been implemented. Unlike MX vs ATV Unleashed, I actually have to give some clutch on the curves or I am gonna be losing a lot of races.

Once you finally get past that first curve and realize that you are in first, you notice the whoop section coming up. You hit it and suddenly everyone zips past you. Well, that's normal because you forgot to lean back to get your front tire off the ground. If you did so, you would still be up ahead. Soon after, you notice that there are some double's and triple's coming up (for those of you non-MX'ers, doubles and triples are sets of jumps, you go off the first and have to clear one or two other hills before landing on the last) and you end up barely clearing the first jump, but you crash painfully into the next. Instead, you should have given some backwards lean to give some rear compression and then lean forward just before leaving the jump to give yourself some big air and longer distance. Be careful though, if you lean forward too soon after compression, you will go careening into the next hill, coming short of your intended distance to land the jump, but if you release too late, then you will overshoot your intending landing and most likely loose precious speed and time in the race. Then, in the midst of all this carnage, you can also pull off one of the (more than) 100 tricks availalbe to attract some of the sponsors in the crowds. After the race, those sponsors, if pleased with your performance, will offer to sponsor you and you will have a new line of riding gear to saddle up with before your next race. You can even get sponsors who will offer bike upgrades, or whole new bikes. You can also be offered a position on another team to race for them, such as Suzuki.

Now then, you finally won your first series and you are on to the pro's. As soon as you hit the barriers (start line) you notice something. Yeah, that distinct yellow/black/white gear. It's pro MX racer Travis Pastrana. Throughout the game, you will get some pointers from him, as well as oppose him on some MX races. You will also meet some other racers such as Reed, Mike Brown, and Ernesto Fonseca.

All of the above is a huge under-exageration of what goes on in the career version of the game. During career mode, you play one racer (who you can gear up yourself, giving him gloves, a helmet, pants, boots, jerseys, and goggles all of your choosing) who is on track to be the number one racer... almost. You first meet up with Travis (TP199) and he gives you some pointers and leads you through the game a little bit. You can go to Free Ride, where you basically ride around an area (such as Travis' house and compound) and complete goals and tricks to unlock Freestyle competitions, and further on new Free ride areas. You start off with a few basic tricks and learn more intense tricks later one. This is where my one small problem comes with the game. Sometimes they expect you to do a very hard and complicated trick with very little air time available. This is where my frustration comes in, on some goals or freestyle tricks I would have to do something like a Side Double Grab I.A. and have about 2 seconds of air time. Any of you freestyle experts out there should know that this is far less than sufficient. I found I had to push out every bit of speed I could and give as much rear compression as possible to complete this ONE trick, which was part of 10 in the objective. Not only that, but I had to start hitting buttons before I even left the ramp if I wanted the rider to be able to start and finish the trick before being reaquainted with the ground sooner than expected.

Other than that, this game has been amazing. Single player - the Motocross and Supercross are excellent. All racers are different, you won't find Pastrana or Reed easy to beat if it's your first time, and you won't find other 'newbie' AI racers beating them either. Freestyle is excellent, being a freestyle person myself, and I have been for years, this is what brings the game to me (other than that small issue). Then you have multiplayer, with some great new extras and you can have a lot of fun just joshing around with friends, or beating them to the ground in a freestyle competition and such. There are also many videos included that give you an overview of the real riders seen in game, featuring Travis Pastrana.

If you are a real MX biker, then you will love this game. If you aren't, it only takes about half an hour (that's the one thing the Gamespot reviewers got right... no offense, really!) to get used to all the lingo and how to properly race.

I strongly recommend this game to ANYONE with even the smallest interest in MX racing, or freestyle competitions. Even if you just want something to entertain yourself with for a few hours in the week, this is the game. It is much better than MX vs ATV Unleashed when it comes to realism, tricks, AI, and gameplay in general. Go out and buy it, then go out and get yourself a used bike, and hit the jumps in the real world! See you on the track!